The In Between
by FlossAus
Summary: A series of short episode reaction drabbles, 'missing' scenes and more. Very much bent to Olicity end game but I like angst and my Felicity standing up to Oliver when it calls for it. With guest spots from other characters when their muse strikes me.
1. Do We Need To Talk About This

**Title**: The In Between  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K  
**Summary**: A series of short episode reaction drabbles, 'missing' scenes and more. Very much bent to Olicity end game but I like angst and my Felicity standing up to Oliver when it calls for it. With guest spots from other characters when their muse strikes me.  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air dates.  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters

_**Before Oliver heads to Corto Maltese, he makes a quick call. **_

Her phone vibrated angrily in her hand just as she reached the foyer of Queen Consolidated. If she didn't know his very average technical skills, she swear he'd put in a tracker in her phone to time his calls at the most inconvenient moments.

"Oh, so you're talking to me now?" She sassed without any preliminary greeting.

"Felicity," he dragged out her name into separate words, a very easy tell that he was annoyed with her. She knew his tells pretty well by now and this was classic, vintage edition irritated Oliver Queen,

"I've got five minutes before I'm late for the job we don't talk about, so what can I do for you?" She replied, a false friendly tone hopefully making it clear how unimpressed she was with him.

"I need to get a better read on where exactly Thea is on Corto Maltese."

"Aren't you good at tracking down people on Islands?" She bit back a little harder than she intended. Damn it, Felicity cursed to herself. She was a positive person, generally pretty upbeat and this conversation had her feeling completely out of sorts. She promised herself that whatever his reaction was to her decision to step back, she wouldn't turn into that person.

"Do we need to talk about this?" She could almost hear him grimacing, she would bet money he was clenching his fist in frustration. "If you don't want to be part of this anymore-"

"I never said that, you know I never said. I said a lot of things, but you can't put that on me. I'm trying Oliver to do this, be mature about everything and spending time away from you is probably the smartest thing a girl from MIT can do right now. Maybe it will help."

"I thought you didn't like the word maybe."

"Did you just make a joke?" She was almost incredulous, and not because she was offended, she was sort of impressed. Oliver Queen wasn't particularly known for his sparkling wit.

"I'm sorry."

"For making a joke about our pathetic attempt at a love life or for being an ass to me this morning in the Foundry?"

"Both. Neither. Pathetic?"

"Oliver…" she sighed, maybe realising this attempt at normalcy wasn't going to work.

"Felicity, it will be …okay."

"That's not really filling me with confidence ..."

"If you can send me a better lock on Thea's location, I would very much appreciate it." He softened.

"I'll see what I can do. Oliver, be careful. Thea's gone to a certain level of trouble to hide her location. There are reasons people hide from those they love."

"Thank you. And Felicity, I am sorry."


	2. Talk To Me

**Title**: The In Between  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K+  
**Summary**: After Felicity's kidnapping, Oliver comes by to help and finds Felicity a little rattled. A short post ep 3x05. A series of short episode reaction drabbles, 'missing' scenes and more. Very much bent to Olicity end game but I like angst and my Felicity standing up to Oliver when it calls for it. With guest spots from other characters when their muse strikes me.  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air dates.  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters

"Tell me about your day?"

He stood there, in her broken door frame, the temporary sheeting blowing in the wind and she couldn't help but sigh in relief. She didn't want to, she'd been working really hard on not letting Oliver's presence jumble her thoughts, and lately, she was doing well. Central City was a great place to try and forget about Oliver Queen. But tonight, with her hands still shaking and her heart beat still racing, tonight she didn't mind so much.

"What are you doing here?" she finally managed to ask.

He hesitated, surveying the damage to her tiny apartment and wincing. "I thought you mind need a hand."

She smiled despite the situation. "I've had plenty of hands. Dig's been here for the last hour measuring the door frame for a replacement, Roy's gone looking for stronger locks and a better security system."

He grimaced, disappointed in himself that he'd failed to be there when she needed him most.

"Oliver," she uttered. "You had to see Thea, it's okay, I get it."

"I'm sorry," he murmured, despite her. "I tried to call but…"

"And that's another thing, do you know how freakin' hard it is going to be, replacing my phone. I mean, the encryption I had running just to separate your calls and the Arrow's calls; that took me months to write." She began to babble as the distant hum of fear began rolling in her ears.

She'd been in danger before, more than she cared to admit but this was different, personal. He wanted _her_ to hurt, he hated _her_. She'd only ever seen that once before, in Slade Wilson's eyes and those were directed at Oliver, not her.

He'd cared for her too, she knew that. They'd held each other, and made promises that now, in the light of his attack looked foolish but she still remembered, still felt those arms. Arms which then turned on her, turned violent, turned hateful. And she would admit to no one just how much that scared her. How the idea that someone she loved, could turn that love into something hard, something painful, something violent.

"Felicity," Oliver queried and she snapped back, realising that she'd drifted away with her thoughts. He'd stepped closer, his hand grasping hers and she only then noticed the shaking had moved beyond her hands and now her entire body was shivering.

"Felicity, breathe." He quietly instructed. The rational part of her brain acknowledged, she was now having a fully-fledged panic attack. Well, that's a bucket list item she could tick off, the rational part continued. The other part of her mind was too busy struggling to breathe.

She sunk to the floor, taking big gasping breaths. He sunk with her and before she knew it, she was curled in his lap, trying to feel safe, trying to avoid the pounding in her ears, her pumping heart and sound of machine guns and her mother's screams and the claustrophobic feel of the black hood that had been yanked over her head.

"Listen to my voice Felicity," Oliver quietly stated. It was reassuring, she could feel it, the safety, the peace, she was almost reaching out for it between her raged breaths, between the tears that had begun falling. "Match my breaths." He placed her hand gently on his chest, and she felt the steady rhythm of his heart and immediately it began to calm her.

That rational, distant part of her brain, reminded her that this was not helping her plan to distance herself from Oliver Queen.

Minutes passed, she wasn't sure how many but eventually she was able to breathe again, able to lift her head, able to sit back from his embrace without a clawing fear blinding her.

"Are you okay?" He asked, reluctant to let her go, his hand still resting in her crossed legs.

"Why do you ask?" she smiled, despite the tear streaks staining her cheeks and he couldn't help but grin back at her.

"Felicity?" he whispered, the question in her name.

"I'm okay, it just…it hit me I guess." She admitted, not able to look at him. "This was someone who hated me, who wanted to hurt me. I'm kind of used to being collateral damage."

"Hey," he took offense at her words. "You are not collateral."

"Sidekick?"

"Not tonight," he responded. "You saved yourself Felicity Smoak."

"Yeah, and the bruises are evidence of that. Seriously, you didn't tell me how much it hurt to punch someone like that, you and Dig both have some serious explaining to do."

"Don't ask about being on the receiving end then," he grinned.

The silence extended longer than either of them planned and before long, they were in the exact place that Felicity had been running from.

"Oliver," she murmured.

"Felicity, whatever happens," he paused, the words they'd promised not to talk of rising in his throat. "You can always talk to me. I want you to talk me."

She opened her mouth to protest but as the tiredness seeped into her bones, the exhaustion of the day, she just couldn't fight it anymore. "Fine, I'll talk to you."


	3. Two for Two

**Title**: The In Between Ch 3 Two for Two  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K+  
**Summary**: Felicity briefly ponders her recent romantic encounters. Vaguely set post Felicity trip to Central /A series of short episode reaction drabbles, 'missing' scenes and more. Very much bent to Olicity end game but I like angst and my Felicity standing up to Oliver when it calls for it. With guest spots from other characters when their muse strikes  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters

In Felicity Smoak's ever increasingly complicated life, she never believed that she'd be two for two in making out with superheroes category. As she sat at her desk in the Foundry, removing all signs of her recent hacks into SCPD's system; she couldn't help but for the briefest of seconds, smile.

Felicity was the unexpected; she knew that. Her dating history was nothing if not varied, but every relationship seemed to start the same way, unexpectedly. It was like these men didn't quite see her coming and then, something, a glance, a gesture, a touch. Something snapped them to her direction and all of sudden Felicity Smoak had admirers. Sometimes it was welcomed, sometimes not.

Still, this latest streak (she almost giggled at her own mental pun), was above average, even for her. Oliver, she knew that was coming, knew the entanglements they were continually tying themselves up in, was eventually going to lead somewhere. Oliver Queen was someone she never intended to fall for, never believed it was actually possible. It wasn't because they were from different worlds either. Of course they were, but Oliver Queen was literally closed off. The man strung so tight, she was still waiting for him to explode. She'd break herself trying to get him to open, she often thought. She knew people around them thought her infatuation was one-sided, that she was some sad colleague pining desperately for this man who would only recognise her support. Then came a date, shared histories, a red pen, a rocket launcher, his declaration and then his kiss. She'd could almost still feel his stubble against her cheek, feel his hands holding her head as if she were the most precious thing and she could at any moment disappear. Felicity wasn't a masochist though, and she meant it. She'd be there for Oliver, but she wasn't going to sacrifice her happiness because he couldn't face the light, couldn't find the words to actually ask for more than the life his was living

Running off to Central City wasn't particularly brave, she knows that. Knows that in the beginning, she was hoping the chemistry she and Barry had would help hide her other feelings. But then, the boy she'd been flirting with was something else when she arrived. Whatever had happened to Barry Allen that night he was struck, changed him in the most fascinating ways. He seemed energised by the after-hours work he was suddenly doing, almost relishing the chance to matter and it was a lightness she'd never experienced. It gave her spring in her step, it made everything feel freer and when he shared with her his world, she was almost giddy with enjoyment. Those thoughts stung a little, as if she was being disrespectful to Oliver, attempting to compare the two men and their lifestyles, as if their experiences were the same.

Despite that, she enjoyed the laughter, the cheeky smile, the banter and rhythm they shared. She knew he was being pushed by Iris, and she knew how that must have felt, the slight sourness at being unseen by the one person, he so desperately wanted to be seen by. So when he returned to the train that was taking her back to Starling, she was surprised. And when he kissed her, she was shocked. Shocked because he was kissing her for a start, but also shocked because she actually felt something. Something a lot stronger than she'd imagined, stronger than she ever believed could happen when a certain hooded bowman clouded her thoughts.

Suddenly Felicity Smoak had made out with both Starling and Central City's masked vigilantes and as her fingers lightly touched her lips at the memories, she was …confused.


	4. Forty Floors

**Title**: The In Between – Forty Floors  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K  
**Summary**: Oliver and Felicity ride the elevator at Palmer Technologies, after the kiss, with different yet oddly similar thoughts.  
A series of short episode reaction drabbles, 'missing' scenes and more. Very much bent to Olicity end game but I like angst and my Felicity standing up to Oliver when it calls for it. With guest spots from other characters when their muse strikes me.  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air dates.  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters  
**Note**: I can't actually remember if QC is 40 floors or not but I like the alliteration, so can we just agree to roll with it, for this story?

* * *

Forty floors sink by quickly, especially on an express elevator. But still forty floors gives you time to think, to question, to examine. It is literal, this falling feeling…because I am actually going down levels in a building but there is something about it that feels …more than that.

_Forty floors take forever to pass. Of course, nearly every floor is met with my former employees exiting or entering. Maybe, if they'd worked this late for me, I might still have an office here. Their looks of pity, hidden not quickly enough, feel earned tonight. Not for the reasons they think…but I'll take them anyway._

There isn't any music, I notice for the first time. No awful piano rendition of a 70's love song that would then get stuck in my head for hours. Strange, I used to think there was music. Would Oliver Queen really have filler music and not Ray Palmer?

_Amazing how quickly logos can be replaced in a building, I notice. The proud P, its complete circle is impressive; slick and effective. Still, the ghost of a Q still sits on the nameplate of the elevator. Still hanging in there, I cruelly think to myself._

His kiss was different, hesitant and questioning. Ray Palmer is never unsure about anything and he was completely unsure about this. I reached out to him though, my hands held him …and it was great, fine, incredibly satisfying. Felicity, you've just described the third course at dinner.

_Could we have enough people on this elevator? Seriously, at what point is this maximum capacity limit. What I wouldn't give for silence, for an empty space, for moment alone in which I realise what an utter jerk I've been._

It's an empty space that's crowding me, and I feel weird. My mind is switching into hyper rational thought and big questions are starting to scream at me. Am I running from Oliver and ignoring my instincts about this new man? Is my pride, getting into my vision. I trust myself normally, but something about this feels …weightless.

_Sometime this century I will reach the lobby of my former building and escape this confined madness. But right now, along with twelve former Queen Consolidated employees, I ride this elevator with my anger and overwhelming regret. It already feels heavy, and for a moment there, just a second, I thought maybe I'd have a chance to lighten the weight._

Forty floors fly by and as the doors slide open, I want out, out of my own mind, out of the silence, out of the overpowering space.

_Forty floors inch by and as the doors heave open, I fall out, wanting of the crowd, out of the noise of regret and out of the crippling confinement._

He's there, sitting in the lobby. Hands in his head.

_She's there, exiting the executive elevator. Hands to her chest. _


	5. Blood on the Table

**Title**: The In Between – Blood on the Table  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K+  
**Summary**: Post his second showdown with Barry, Oliver returns to the Foundry.  
A series of short episode reaction drabbles, 'missing' scenes and more. Very much bent to Olicity end game but I like angst and my Felicity standing up to Oliver when it calls for it. With guest spots from other characters when their muse strikes me.  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air dates.  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters

* * *

She hears him shuffle into the room, wincing a little as he moved.

"I'm thinking it didn't go well?" she smiles, as he gingerly places his weapons on the table.

"I held my own," he replies, a slight smirk escaping and she almost falls over in shock. "What are you still doing here?"

"Cisco was messing with my police scanner software and then he completely rearranged the dashboard of my personally customized …and you don't really need to know this." She concluded, noting his dazed expression.

"No…I…sorry, I was…there's blood on the table." He looked down at the small spot, illuminated by the stark lighting.

"Sorry, I thought I got it all," she answered, rushing over with the still slightly red cloth to clean it away.

He is silent for a moment, still absently watching her clean and it distracts her, throws her off because he's never vague, never spaced out like this. "Are you okay Oliver, do you have concussion or something?"

He doesn't answer.

"Oliver?" she steps toward him, her concern growing.

"I'm okay. I just thought, hoped …I'm tired of people I care about being on this table." He looks her directly in the eyes, his focus complete and clear. She realises now of course, that not only did Lyla lay here, on the verge of death but she did too. And Sara…there was no verge for Sara, only death.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, not really knowing what to say.

He can't answer her, his mind wandering again lost in thoughts that he can't – no, won't articulate. Eventually after more silence and a few words, she leaves him and the stillness closes in.

He'd wanted to believe in Barry's words, he had to but hearing them and actually living them was something else. He'd had years taken from him by others, stripping him down to their own violent needs and only his selfishness to live pulling him along. He was moulded into what they needed him to become, and he let them. Let them use him, because the promise of another breath, the hope of freedom was too great. What happens when that hope is turned to others will? He became the man they wanted. But now, now when he can feel himself finally breaking free, surfacing for maybe the first time in a long time. Now he has to face what's left and what he couldn't tell Barry, want he can't tell anyone, is that the Oliver Queen who is under the hood might not be someone worth believing in.

This Oliver Queen, born of fire and pain, born of torture and death, he is a different man and the light that others see in him, that light may be false hope.


	6. Last Words

**Title**: The In Between – Last Words  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K+  
**Summary**: After Oliver's declaration before departing to face Ra's Al Ghul, Felicity snaps out of it calls him.  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air dates.  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters, and Stephen and Emily definitely made that clear in tonight's EPIC.

* * *

"No, damn it. Oliver Queen, you _will_ answer this phone," she snapped to his voicemail. Felicity slammed the handset down, angrily pressing the speed dial to his cell again.

Two short shrill rings and then a voicemail alert activated. "Oliver, I will not stop calling and you will hear these messages and feel really bad about this." Her voice rose with frustration.

She dialled his two back up cells, those she knew of anyway. They didn't have voicemail services, just an endless ring that left her feeling sick.

Back to his original number, she continued once more.

He said those words to her and she'd frozen. Only able to watch him leave, a terrible sense of dread settling in her stomach. She stood, locked to the very spot he left her, the ghost of his kiss still lingering on her forehead, her thumb twitching across her fingers unconsciously for a good twenty minutes.

Then it hit her, like a blow from an unseen enemy. He was going to die. He was going to proudly, bravely battle the man they called the Demon's Head and Oliver knew he was going to lose and worse, he'd seemed comforted by it. As if this stand; this stand was his final one and the pain and suffering she knew he went through every day would be over.

"Answer the phone Oliver, answer me." She hit another level. She would not let him do this, let him leave her here, with those words unanswered. Felicity Smoak wouldn't allow it.

Was it selfish that she wouldn't let him rest? No, Oliver was not done and she'd told him this before. Together, with their friends, together they'd pledged to protect a city that needed salvation and damn it, he was not quitting on her yet. Not without knowing the truth.

Crack, as the receiver hit the handset she felt the plastic snap. She stepped to the next phone and began to redial.

Her hands started to shake, and she slammed them onto the table. Pressing down into her palms to quell the adrenaline rolling inside her.

"I will call Detective …Captain Lance and tell him you're the Arrow, if you don't call me back in three minutes." She threatened, hoping it would mean something, be heard by someone. Slam, dial again.

"Oliver, please." Her voice stumbled, catching on his name. A deep breath, slam and dial again.

"Oliver…" she shouted. "Oliver, answer the damn phone!" The scream broke her, coming from a place more primal than she'd expected. It pushed the tears down her cheeks, and coated her throat with a thickness that muffled her voice. Dial again.

"Oliver, please," she whimpered. "You need to hear it back." Dial again.

"Oliver," she sobbed, on her knees, on the cold cement floor of a darkened Foundry, her cell phone pressed to her ear. "I love you." Dial again.

"Oliver Queen, I am not having my last words with you on voicemail, so please, please…please answer me."


	7. The Bed is Cold

**Title**: The In Between – The Bed is Cold  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K+  
**Summary**: Felicity still can't escape her grief and an unexpected phone call only drives it home  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air dates.  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters

* * *

The bed is cold, which is ridiculous because he never slept here. Never lay beside her, his scarred body, restless in sleep, she would imagine.

It's late or very early depending on your point of view but lately these hours, these dead of night hours that used to keep her busy, they are now the worst. She remembers having purpose and drive and even at 3am, she'd had an energy coursing through her veins. Now though, she feels heavy, weighted down by the knowledge she can't shake. The truth she can't deny.

Her phone vibrates on her bedside table and for a split second, she thinks it him. The calls used to be common, frequent and reliable but it's not. It can't be.

"Hello?" she answers not recognising the number.

"Felicity?" Laurel's voice is slower that she remembers, softer.

"Oh hi, sorry, yes, it's me." She stammers. She hears the other woman a take breath, a moment to collect herself possibly.

"I'm sorry," Laurel finally murmurs; the words barely audible.

"What? Why?" She is confused, Laurel isn't one for apologies.

This firebrand of a woman, who throws herself into danger with an almost reckless drive to prove a point; she scares Felicity. Scares her with a tenacity that's borderline fatal, a gleam of determination that is marked in blood. She scares Felicity with who she once was, of how she destructed in the past. It echoes her mother's occasional spirals and those memories hurt.

"For what I asked you to do tonight, with my father," Laurel finally explains, referencing her begging Felicity to help Detective Lance believe the myth of Sara Lance's continued existence.

Felicity paused, not quite sure how to answer. She felt ashamed at her part in the charade. It was wrong, she knew this and a certain voice rang in her mind with disappointment as she processed the program to mask Laurel's voice. However, the voice wasn't there and the world she now lived in was slowly coming apart. If this small mercy could help a real hero continue to fight on, then maybe it was worth it.

"Laurel, I ..." and she couldn't find the words.

The silence continued on between them, rising in its uncomfortableness.

"Roy mentioned that you were close to Oliver," Laurel stated.

"Yes," Felicity was hesitant, knowing the history.

"I'm glad," she uttered and Felicity almost dropped the phone.

"It wasn't, we hadn't. It was just a date. That actually ended with a rocket launcher, which for Oliver was pretty subdued." She smiled despite herself.

"Even before the Island, he was always dramatic," Laurel chuckled in response. "Felicity, I understand and…I'm sorry."

"You mentioned that." Felicity replied with a new kindness in her voice.

"No, I'm sorry for your loss. For Oliver." Laurel immediately ended the call, leaving Felicity staring at the cell in her hand. The quiet compassion this woman had just shown her, completely disarming.

Sitting back down into her bed, she sighed. It was the darkness that clawed at her, the empty feeling that felt like a screaming echo. With every acknowledgement from people in her life that they recognised something between her and Oliver, her grief threatened to overwhelm her.

They knew, all of them seeing something she still hadn't been brave enough to say and now as she lay there, in a cold bed and her tears silently falling, she only had regrets as her companion.


	8. Making the World a Better Place

**Title**: The In Between – Making the World Better  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K+  
**Summary**: Post 3x13 - Before departing to the Island with Thea, Oliver speaks with.  
It's worth noting, I've found this season the show has slightly struggled with Felicity's characterisation and how to define her against other characters. It could be worse though, she could be Diggle stuck as Office Manager of The Foundry.  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters. Also, the final line/chapter title is inspired by a line from the YouTube series Emma Approved.

* * *

Heat filled her cheeks, her heels clipping in the alley way as she paced back on forth. She was furious, irate – hell, she was just damn right pissed off. Oliver Queen was many things but right now, the man she'd spent weeks mourning, was driving her mad.

If she was honest with herself, it was partly her fault. In the hours after his 'death' became real, and her denial stopped, she swore to herself many things. It was whispers in a darkened night, but they included words like honour, legacy and respect. She only wanted to stand for his purest virtues, only wanted to represent the very best of everything he embodied to a city that desperately needed him.

He returned though, not the man she'd been honouring. Not the legacy, she was struggling to uphold. Not a man, she wanted to respect. It hurt, like nothing she knew, that he had seemingly failed her, especially after declaring his love. But it was her fault because he had no say in her definitions of him. She'd chosen alone how to carry on and blaming him for not being her choices, wasn't fair.

"Felicity," he interrupted. His voice was strained, his tension and frustration at their current status so very evident to her.

"What?" she snapped in return, her own emotions just as obvious to him, she was sure.

"Can we not-" he stopped himself. "I'm just …we're leaving tonight."

"Fantastic," she retorted, her back turned in defiance, ignoring his struggles.

"What do you want me to do?" he finally shouted, losing his cool at her willful indifference to the position he was now in.

"Do better," she turned, finally facing him, anger blazing in her eyes. "Don't work with that man, who turned your sister into a killer. Don't work with that man, who killed Sara. Don't work with that man who has killed countless people, for himself alone. Do better Oliver."

"There is no better Felicity," he yelled. "Better is dying. Better is my entire family dead. Better is everyone I care about being hunted down to pay for sins they never commit."

"And neither did you," she stammered, her exasperation at his alliance with the Dark Archer, colouring her inflection. "Malcolm Merlyn put every single of us in cross hairs to save only himself. Why do you forget that?"

He stepped closer to her, his voice dropping fast and low, the steeliness of his conviction shocking her. "You think I've forgotten?" A sigh, a moment, a beat. He stared off into the distance, his eyes clouding over in memories. "Most nights, I wake with memories of Sara, dead on that table in there. I see visions on a repetitive loop in my mind, of Speedy killing her."

He dropped his head, the weariness setting in. "I hear the sounds of people screaming as they died in the Glades that night." He came back to her, his stare direct and pointed. "I will never forget what Malcolm Merlyn has done. _Never_. But right now, he is my only option to save my family."

She spoke softly, her heart breaking for what she knew lay ahead of him. "But what's the cost? What happens to you in the process?"

"Whatever has it happen to protect everyone," he muttered.

"Oliver, you've been here before. Determined to the point of obsession and that was the man I met three years ago. A cold blooded killer. The hood."

"Felicity, it's…" he stumbled, attempting to explain the complexities he himself struggled to understand.

"I can't watch you become him again," she continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "When I agreed to work with you, it was about saving Starling City, about making it a better place. Making the world a better place." She almost laughed at notion, at own her naivety.

"It still is; it still can be," he replied, searching her eyes hopefully.

"Well if this is your idea of how to make the world a better place, I don't want to be any part of it." She said and Felicity Smoak walked away.


	9. Home

**Title**: The In Between – Home  
**Author**: Floss Aus  
**Rating**: K+  
**Summary**: Post 3x20 – Oliver remembers his moment with Felicity. A Felicity reaction piece is coming. And probably more 'In Between' moments from 3x20 because...really...it was Olicity goodness.  
**Spoilers**: Follows Season 3's ep air dates.  
**Disclaimer**: CW and DC are Arrow peeps. The excellent cast inhabit the characters

* * *

It's the moment after, the moment my breath slowed, my heart beat steadied and my mind thought beyond the blinding ecstasy. It's in that very moment, I realised, I came home.

She lay in my arms, her own breath shallow and sharp, her heart beat thundering against my chest and in that moment, her fingers laced in mine, in that moment – the world was quiet.

The voices outside the door silent, the agony in my mind defeated and the hauntings of who I am, who I have chosen to be, forgotten.

For just that moment, I saw in her eyes salvation and nothing else mattered. All I knew were her lips, all I had was her embrace and the questions I'd asked myself in the darkest hours, were answered. I would know happiness again. I could feel peace and safety, and she would love me not in spite of who I am, but because of who I am.

As the sizzle of my skin brings me back, and the pain of my circumstance grounds me into a future I want no part of, I remember that moment.

While I outwardly pledged to forget my previous life, to cast aside the moments that made me Oliver Queen, I lie. I keep that moment front and center in my mind, and I don't care about the pain that awaits me. Because for that short while, I was home. And no one can ever take that away and I will never regret it or apologize.

Because for a fleeting moment, holding Felicity in my arms, I came home


End file.
